For Entrepreneurs and Business People

I hope this information will motivate you and provide you with courage when you experience ups anddowns in your career, business or entrepreneurship initiatives in particular. Not everyone who's on top today got there with success after success. Moreoften than not, those who history best remembers were faced with numerousobstacles that forced them to work harder and show more determination thanothers. Next time you're feeling down about your failures in college or ina career, keep these fifty famous people in mind and remind yourself thatsometimes failure is just the first step towards success.Business GurusThese businessmen and the companies they founded are today known aroundthe world, but as these stories show, their beginnings weren't alwayssmooth.

2. R. H. Macy: Most people are familiar with this large department storechain, but Macy didn't always have it easy. Macy started seven failedbusiness before finally hitting big with his store in New York City.

3. F. W. Woolworth: Some may not know this name today, but Woolworth wasonce one of the biggest names in department stores in the U.S. Beforestarting his own business, young Woolworth worked at a dry goods store andwas not allowed to wait on customers because his boss said he lacked thesense needed to do so.

4. Soichiro Honda: The billion-dollar business that is Honda began with aseries of failures and fortunate turns of luck. Honda was turned down byToyota Motor Corporation for a job after interviewing for a job as anengineer, leaving him jobless for quite some time. He started makingscooters of his own at home, and spurred on by his neighbors, finallystarted his own business.

5. Akio Morita: You may not have heard of Morita but you've undoubtedlyheard of his company, Sony. Sony's first product was a rice cooker thatunfortunately didn't cook rice so much as burn it, selling less than 100units. This first setback didn't stop Morita and his partners as theypushed forward to create a multi-billion dollar company.

6. Bill Gates: Gates didn't seem like a shoe-in for success after droppingout of Harvard and starting a failed first business with Microsoftco-founder Paul Allen called Traf-O-Data. While this early idea didn'twork, Gates' later work did, creating the global empire that is Microsoft.

7. Harland David Sanders: Perhaps better known as Colonel Sanders ofKentucky Fried Chicken fame, Sanders had a hard time selling his chickenat first. In fact, his famous secret chicken recipe was rejected 1,009times before a restaurant accepted it.

8. Walt Disney: Today Disney rakes in billions from merchandise, moviesand theme parks around the world, but Walt Disney himself had a bit of arough start. He was fired by a newspaper editor because, "he lackedimagination and had no good ideas." After that, Disney started a number ofbusinesses that didn't last too long and ended with bankruptcy andfailure. He kept plugging along, however, and eventually found a recipefor success that worked.Scientists and ThinkersThese people are often regarded as some of the greatest minds of ourcentury, but they often had to face great obstacles, the ridicule of theirpeers and the animosity of society.

9. Albert Einstein: Most of us take Einstein's name as synonymous withgenius, but he didn't always show such promise. Einstein did not speakuntil he was four and did not read until he was seven, causing histeachers and parents to think he was mentally handicapped, slow andanti-social. Eventually, he was expelled from school and was refusedadmittance to the Zurich Polytechnic School. It might have taken him a bitlonger, but most people would agree that he caught on pretty well in theend, winning the Nobel Prize and changing the face of modern physics.

10. Charles Darwin: In his early years, Darwin gave up on having a medicalcareer and was often chastised by his father for being lazy and toodreamy. Darwin himself wrote, "I was considered by all my masters and myfather, a very ordinary boy, rather below the common standard ofintellect." Perhaps they judged too soon, as Darwin today is well-knownfor his scientific studies.

11. Robert Goddard: Goddard today is hailed for his research andexperimentation with liquid-fueled rockets, but during his lifetime hisideas were often rejected and mocked by his scientific peers who thoughtthey were outrageous and impossible. Today rockets and space travel don'tseem far-fetched at all, due largely in part to the work of this scientistwho worked against the feelings of the time.

12. Isaac Newton: Newton was undoubtedly a genius when it came to math,but he had some failings early on. He never did particularly well inschool and when put in charge of running the family farm, he failedmiserably, so poorly in fact that an uncle took charge and sent him off toCambridge where he finally blossomed into the scholar we know today.

13. Socrates: Despite leaving no written records behind, Socrates isregarded as one of the greatest philosophers of the Classical era. Becauseof his new ideas, in his own time he was called "an immoral corrupter ofyouth" and was sentenced to death. Socrates didn't let this stop him andkept right on, teaching up until he was forced to poison himself.

14. Robert Sternberg: This big name in psychology received a C in hisfirst college introductory psychology class with his teacher telling himthat, "there was already a famous Sternberg in psychology and it wasobvious there would not be another." Sternberg showed him, however,graduating from Stanford with exceptional distinction in psychology, summacum laude, and Phi Beta Kappa and eventually becoming the President of theAmerican Psychological Association.InventorsThese inventors changed the face of the modern world, but not without afew failed prototypes along the way.

15. Thomas Edison: In his early years, teachers told Edison he was "toostupid to learn anything." Work was no better, as he was fired from hisfirst two jobs for not being productive enough. Even as an inventor,Edison made 1,000 unsuccessful attempts at inventing the light bulb. Ofcourse, all those unsuccessful attempts finally resulted in the designthat worked.

16. Orville and Wilbur Wright: These brothers battled depression andfamily illness before starting the bicycle shop that would lead them toexperimenting with flight. After numerous attempts at creating flyingmachines, several years of hard work, and tons of failed prototypes, thebrothers finally created a plane that could get airborne and stay there.

17. Reginald Mengi: Started from humble beginnings, now the most respected African businessman in East Africa, owner of IPP media, Bonite bottlers among others, great philanthropist who recently received international award.

18. Chash: Of hapa hapa, started from a scratch and is still scratching failed in several businesses and is beginning to get it right, Will never ever ever ever give up hadi afike like no. 17 hapo juu and beyond.